The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1887-06-25

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LAKE eHARtEs, La, june g 1857.
IiIitur lake Charles Echo:
The occurrence which prompts me to WRITE
this L about as follows
Several weeks ago man named patnicf
1 0'O0nDoT was arrested st Loxley1s tram, II
+ this parish, on q charge Of sbusina and mis-
/ treating his daughter, and falling to give
/ bond Wss put In jail where he nov is, WhsE
taken away from the said tram he left Bill
Two little children there, and Is they werf
mntheflBss and had no relatives and nc
/ friends, they had no earthly means of sup
port and were, beyond doubt, the poor and
aeesssitOus of the parish; and If any one
i ever was entitled 10 the protection and sup
port Of the parish these poor little children
swere. But owing TO the present condition
Of things In our parish, It seems that under
the stnict letter Of tRe lasg, there is no one
whose duty It Is faside from the duty that
every one owes to humanity to see that these
children were properly taken care of, or aG-
thorized to say to any one, Here If you
viii take care of these children until their
father Is In a position to support them, the
| parish VIII pay you for it.
Some Of the good people of the Loxley
tram settlement kept these children from
starving and otherwise kindly took care of
them, until the 18th inst, without even a
promise Of compensation from the parish,
But as children of this kind are very trouble
some in another family, and the family in
which they were, not being able to longer
support them, they applied to the President
of the Police Jury 10 know II they would be
allowed pay for keeping the children longer.
They were informed by him that he thought
the Police Jury would approve their account
If reasonable, and that he would use his in
tluenee to that end, but he could not say
positively whether they would or not, and
that he had no authority TO say what should
be done In the matter. The parties could
not afford to take the chances. and therefore
sent the children TO the Sheriff's office, and
the Sheriff being absent, and having no
right to bind him, because It was not his duty
and he is not authorized TO act 10 such mat
tiers, the only way I could get them taken
care of was to give my personal guarantee
that the party who took them should be paid
Tor their trouble.
Now, the question is inst this, is it right
for me or any one else to be forced to assume
responsibility which clearly belongs to the
parishg
Section 2743 of the Revised Statutes of
Louisiana clearly provides that ''Police Juries
shall have power to make all such regula-
tiOns as they deem expedient to provide for
the support ofthe poor and neeessit0us with
in their respective parishes by taxation or
otherwise"
Now If the police jurors will think of this
matter they will certainly see that q regula-
the Police Jury, or some other represents
tive officer, to act In matters of emergency,
such as the case above referred to, and to
protect the really needy when occasion de-
mands, between meetings of the said Police
Jury, and to make the action of this officer
binding on the parish, is necessity, and
something that il too important to leave
longer neglected. ELY Fl. DEES.
We think the above instance shonld serve
as a hint to the Police Jury that some means
should be adopted looking to a change in
the present method Of caring for the pauperB
of the parish. AT present we are paying out
a large sum yearly, which Ia sonr opinion
could be reduced considerably by the Police
Jury establishing Poor Farm where all the
INDECENT and poor Of the parish could be
located and made to assist in supporting
themselves. In Natchitoches parish, where
the experiment has been tried, it has proven
a success and been great saving to the
parish. As the Jury meets shortly We think
it would be advisable for It to take this mat
ter under consideration, and if thought 81
pedient, correspond with the Natchitoehes
and inform itself as to the
merits Or dement's of the plan. In the mean
time the jury should make some provision
that will cover such an emergency as the one
referred to by AIr. Dees.